pyng the teachers thereof for newe broched brethren. Who, if they dyd as well forsee tymes passed as they be vnwillyng to folowe tymes now present, they should vnderstand as well by these stories as other before, how this doctrine of the grace of God lackyng no antiquitie, hath from tyme to time cōtinually sought to burst out, and in some places hath preuailed, although in most places thorow tyranny and the malice of men, Christes procedynges haue ben suppressed & kept vnder from rising, so much as mans power & strēgth ioyned w^t craft & subtiltie, could labour to kepe down the same: as here by these good men of Norfolke and Suffolke, may well appeare. For if the knowledge and the good towardnes of those good men, had hadde the like libertie of tyme, w^t the helpe of like authoritie as we haue now, and had not ben restrained thorowe the iniquitie of tyme and tyranny of Prelates: it had well appeared how old this doctrine would haue ben, whiche now they contemne and reiecte for the newnes thereof: MarginaliaBoner myght see the church here in thys age, more then 40. yeares before he was borne.neither neded Boner to haue asked of Thomas Hawkes, and such other, where their churche was for. xl. yeares ago, in as much as for lx. yeares ago, and more, within the countrey of Norfolke & Suffolke, was then found such plentie of þ^e same profession and like doctrine which we now professe. And thus much for þ^e number & the names of these persons.

Nowe touchyng their Articles whiche they dyd mainteine and defend: first this is to be considered, as I finde it in the registers, such societie and agrement of doctrine to be amongest them, that almost in their assertions and Articles there was no difference. The doctrine of the one was the doctrine of all the other. What theyr articles were, partly it is shewed in the leafe before, and partly here foloweth to be declared more at large.

Although it is to bee thought concernyng these articles, that many of thē either were falsly obiected against them, or not truly reported of the notaries, accordyng as the common maner is of these aduersaries, wher the matter is good, there to make heresie, and of a litle occasion, to stirre vp great matter of slaunder, as they did before by the articles of Iohn VVickleffe and Iohn Hus, & with others moe: So in like maner it semeth they did in the Articles of these men, either mistakyng that whiche they sayd, or mysunderstandyng that which they ment: especially in these two articles concernyng Baptisme & paying of tithes. For where as they speakyng against the ceremoniall and superfluous traditions then vsed in Baptisme, as salt, oyle, spittell, taper light, crisomes, exorcising of the water, with such other, accompted them as no materiall thyng in þ^e holy institutiō of Baptisme, the notaries slaunderously deprauyng this their assertion, to make it more odious to the eares of the people, so gaue out the article as though they should hold, that þ^e Sacrament of Baptisme vsed in the churche by water, is but a light matter and of small effect.

MarginaliaThese men are falsely slaundered about baptisme.Agayne, in speakyng agaynst the Christenyng that mydwiues vse in priuate houses, against the opinion of such as thinke such childrē to be dāned, which depart before they come to their baptisme, they are falslye reported, as though they should say, þ^t Christē people be sufficiētly baptised in the bloud of Christ, & nedeth no water, & that the infantes bee sufficiently Baptised, if their parentes be Baptised before them. Whiche thing is so contrary to the manifest worde, that it is not to be thought any to bee so ignoraunt of the Gospell, that euer would or did affirme the same.

Moreouer, they thought or sayd peraduenture that in certeine cases, tithes might be withholden frō wicked priestes sometyme, and be conferred to better vses, to the behoufe of the poore: Therfore they are falsly slaūdered, as saying and affirmyng that no tithes were to be geuen to the ministers and curates of the churches.

And likewise for matrimony, wherin they are reported to holde & affirme as though it consisted onely in themutuall consent betwixt the man & woman, nedyng no other solempnising in the publicke church, & MarginaliaThe papistes are but quarelpickers.all because (as it is lyke) they denied it to be a Sacrament. Other articles were obiected agaynst them, as these whiche hereafter followe.

MarginaliaArticles.That auricular confession is not to be made vnto a priest but vnto a priest but vnto God onely, because no priest hath any power to absolue a sinner from his sinne.

Item, that no priest hath power to make the body of Christ in the Sacrament of the aultar, but that after the Sacramentall wordes, there remayneth pure materiall bread, as before.

Itē, that euery true Christian mā is a priest to God.

Item, that no man is bounde vnder payne of damnation vnto Lent or any other dayes prohibited by the churche of Rome.

Item, that the pope is Antichrist and his prelates the disciples of Antichrist, and that the Pope hath no power to bynde and loose vpon earth.

Marginalia* In case of necessitie vrgent they meane.* Item, that it is lawfull for euery Christiā to do any bodely worke (sinne onely except) vpon the holy dayes.

Item, that it is lawfull for priestes to haue wiues.

Item, that the excommunications and ecclesiesticall cēsures giuen out by þ^e prelates, are not to be regarded.

Item, it is not lawfull to sweare in priuate cases.

Item, that men ought not to go on pilgrimage.

Itē, that there is no honor to be geuen to the Images of the Crucifixe, of our Lady, or any other saint.

Item, that the holy water holowed in the churche by the priest, is not holier or of more vertue then other running or well water, bycause the Lord blessed all waters in their first creation.

MarginaliaThe death of Thomas Becket.Item, that the death of Thomas Becket, was neither holy neither meritorious.

Item, that reliques as dead mens bones, ought not to bee worshypped or digged out of theyr graues or set vp in shrynes.

Item, that prayers made in all places are acceptable vnto God.

Item, that men ought not to praye to any saint but onely to God.

Item, that the belles & ringyng in the church was ordayned for no other purpose thē to fill the priests purses.

Item, that it is no sinne to withstand the ecclesiasticall preceptes.

Item, that the catholicke church is onely the congregation of the elect.

MarginaliaIn thys article is mēt that the wicked be in the church but not of the church.These were the Articles, whiche were generallye obiected agaynst them all, wherin they did so agree in one vniforme faith, that what soeuer one did holde, all the other did mainteine and holde the same. By the whiche their consent and doctrine it appeareth the they all receaued it of some one instructor, who was VVilliam VVhite: which beyng a scholer and folower of Iohn VVickleffe, resorted afterward into this coūtrey of Norfolke & there instructed these men in the light of the Gospell. And now as we haue declared the names & Articles of these good men, so it remaineth somwhat to speake of their troubles howe they were handled, beginning first with VVilliam VVhite.

MarginaliaW. White Martyr.
1428.
Ex Waldeno.THis William White beeyng a follower of Iohn Wickliffe and a priest, not after the common sort of priestes, but rather to be reputed amongest þ^e nūber of thē, of whom þ^e wiseman speaketh: Marginalia* Ecc. 50.* He was as þ^e morning starre in the middest of a cloud, &c. This man was a well learned, vpright, and wel spoken priest. He gaue ouer his priesthoode and benefice, and tooke vnto him a godly yong womā to his wife, named Ioane: notwithstanding he did not therfore cease or leaue from his former office and duetye, but continually laboured to the glory and prayse of his spouse Christ, by readyng, wri-